Minnesota GOP lawmaker compares Democratic support for abortion to ‘Chinese genocide bill’

September 5, 2022

Rep. Tom Emmer (R, MN-6) has recently criticized Democrats for voting to support reproductive rights, calling it the “Chinese genocide bill.”

Emmer made his comment during an interview with Fox News host Mike Emmanuel on Sunday. During the interview, Emmanuel mentioned that some Republicans running for office in November decided to remove references to abortion from their campaign website after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

“I trust our candidates to know their districts and know how they’re going to appeal to their voters, to the voters that are going to turn out in November and elect them to the next Congress,” Emmer responded.

“If Democrats want to make abortion the main issue when every poll we have seen says that the economy and the cost of living is the number one issue, good luck to them trying to defend their extreme position,” he continued.

The U.S. representative also referred to reproduction rights as the “Chinese genocide bill,” saying, “Every one of them voted for what I call the ‘Chinese genocide bill,’ which would allow abortion up to moments before a child takes its first breath. I think our candidates know how to message that and they’ll be just fine in the midterms.”

It is unclear what Emmer was referring to or if his comment was in any way connected to China’s one-child policy, a law introduced in 1979 that prohibited Chinese families from having more than one child. The Chinese government eventually lifted the ban in late 2018.

In what can be considered Democrats’ first legislative response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the House of Representatives voted 219-210 in July to restore abortion rights. They also passed a bill 223-205 that forbids pregnant people from getting penalized if they travel to another state to get an abortion. Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, applauded the House’s action in July.

“We are seeing the start of a public health crisis that is becoming more dire by the day,” Northup said in a statement. “Pregnant people are being denied access to life-saving health care. States are banning abortion and proposing legislation that would prevent their residents from getting abortion care in states where it is legal. The two bills voted on today are critical to ensure that people can get the health care they need.”

Featured Image via Raw Videos

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